Bar Mingo

Editor’s Pick

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$$$
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Italian

For 22 years, he was the Pasta Guy at the legendary Genoa (read: the course everyone waited for during seder-length dinners). Now Jerry Huisinga is handmaking noodles and performing quiet, old-school Italian magic at this casually modern satellite of Caffe Mingo next door. This is a good spot for wine drinking and power snacking. Get a spread of starters for the table, especially the lip-smacking chicken livers dancing on crispy toast, the irresistible mint-spiked lamb meatballs, and the best calamari around, super fresh and springy. But pasta rules, as it should, with at least a half dozen options nightly, all rolled and cut fresh, from a silky, soulful, big-flavored lasagna to chitarra (square-cut “guitar string” spaghetti) with spicy puttanesca and fried bottarga bread crumbs. The risotto banishes local competitors simply because it’s the real thing, made in fresh batches twice a night with surgical concentration. Don’t miss it.